AWFUL: Government continues research using aborted babies old enough to live outside womb

The National Institutes of Health — a part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services — signed a federal contract with the University of California at San Francisco which requires UCSF to obtain body parts from aborted preborn children in order to create “humanized mice.” These mice will be used in efforts to develop HIV therapies paid for by the United States Federal Government. According to CNS News, the original contract was signed for a period beginning in 2013 with the option to renew the contract for up to six one-year periods, with the total amount to be paid at “$13,799,501 for a full performance period through December 5, 2020.” So far, approximately $9.5 million has been spoken for.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. The government is paying for the body parts of aborted babies that were once potentially viable.

According to a 2017 PLOS journal article, these humanized mice are created with the use of human fetal intestines taken from electively aborted, healthy babies between 18 and 24 weeks gestation. Premature children have been known to survive outside the womb as early as 21 weeks. Using these children for experimentation essentially creates a market for late-term, aborted babies.

The mothers of these children are said to have given consent for their babies’ bodies to be used in research; however, informed consent for research has been buried within the informed consent paperwork for the actual abortion — meaning many women have no idea that their children’s bodies will be used for these purposes. The contractor is required to disclose its source for any organs or tissue harvested from preborn humans.

According to the journal article, “Single intact segments of the human fetal intestine (2-3 cm in length) were transplanted subcutaneously [into the third layer of skin] on the back of 6-8 week old male […] mice.” A similar journal article from 2008 reveals that fetal livers and thymuses used in the experiment were taken from preborn children between 20 and 24 weeks gestation.

The original contract, which expired in 2013, states that the mice with weak or nonexistent immune systems are “engrafted with human fetal thymus and liver” and then infected with HIV-1. A second humanized mouse model is also sought, which would involve attaching the thymus and liver tissue of aborted children onto the mice, which are capable of being infected with a bloodstream virus.

2. The government said it would protect preborn children; instead, it is experimenting with their dead bodies.

The reporting requirements for this experimentation include a “Protection of Human Subjects Assurance Identification/Declaration of Exemption” form. This will allow for approval of the means in which the fetal body parts were collected. Last year, the Trump administration — through HHS — defined human life as “beginning at conception” and declared that it would protect all human life including preborn children.

This contract, however, breaks that vow.

“NIH takes very seriously all ethical concerns surrounding fetal tissue research, and has a robust policy framework in place to ensure this research continues responsibly with the ultimate goal of improving health,” NIH told CNSNews.com. “As you may be aware, HHS is currently reviewing all acquisitions involving human fetal tissue to ensure conformity with procurement and human fetal tissue research laws and regulations.”

As Live Action News previously reported, HHS ended a contract with Advanced Bioscience Resources in September 2018 when it came to light that ABR, a fetal tissue procurement company under contract with Planned Parenthood abortion facilities, harvested and provided “fresh” aborted human fetal body parts under a government contract to create humanized mice. Unfortunately, it seems the government is still in the business of using aborted children as science experiments.

In short, a single aborted “donor” child’s tissue and organs are used to create 50-60 humanized mice for this research.

3. NIH and HHS have “humane” requirements for the mice, while children are brutally killed before these experiments.

Beyond this, what stands out most starkly is that the mice receive more consideration than the aborted children. Contractors must agree to care for the mice humanely, and according to stringent rules about animal welfare. The NIH must even show justification for using the mice as well as the method of euthanasia that will be used once experimentation is over.

Meanwhile, at 18 to 24 weeks gestation, preborn children are aborted through a D&E procedure in which they are ripped apart limb by limb as described by former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levatino in the video below — with no consideration as to their welfare:

NIH spent approximately $103 million in 2018 on research using tissue from aborted children and plans to spend $95 million on it in fiscal 2019.